Page 87 of Love at First Ink

Cisco placed the box marked “Fragile” onto the counter next to Snowball. Their house was officially filled to the brim with boxes. Who knew they had so much shit? Her closet alone almost required an entire truck to fit into. There was no wayshe was going to trust her designer clothes to the moving company, so she made her brother-in-law move them with his truck.

Cisco raised a brow, catching her stare. “See something you like, Princesa?” he asked, licking his lips. Those damn lips had her drooling over him. It was extremely distracting.

“I do. Even if you smell,” she teased, forcing herself not to look at the deep V of his hips. She definitely didn’t need to get distracted, not when there were movers, her family, and Tiny somewhere in the house. There would be time to “break in” the home later; she just had to be patient.

“Who sent the flowers?” Cisco raised his chin, indicating the flowers Marisol was arranging.

The flowers had been delivered shortly after they got the keys and arrived at their new house. She knew the moment she laid eyes on them who sent them. There was only one person who would buy her an expensive arrangement of flowers in a crystal vase.

“My mom,” she said, keeping her voice neutral. She still had very limited interaction with her mother. Most contact was through phone calls and the occasional gift in the mail. The flowers were her mother’s way of congratulating Marisol on her new house—or at least that was how Marisol took it.

Cisco nodded. He still wasn’t the biggest fan of her mother, and Marisol didn’t blame him. She also would never force them to have a relationship. Still, Cisco was supportive of what she wanted and how much she wanted to include her mother in their lives. Marisol came to terms long ago with never inviting her mother back into her life completely because she didn’t believe there was any way to mend their relationship after everything that happened.

“They’re nice. Think they have a surveillance camera in them?” he asked.

Marisol snorted in a very unladylike fashion. “I wouldn’t put that past her. But they are gorgeous, so I’ll risk it.” She smiled, finishing up arranging them before walking over to Cisco.

“I’m sweaty,” he warned.

“I’m aware,” Marisol hummed. That didn’t stop her from wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling into his neck. He did smell, but she was learning to love his man musk. His arms wrapped around her, hugging her tightly. No matter where they were, home would always be here in his arms.

“We’re moving in together,” she whispered into his neck.

They had mostly been living together for the past year, but Cisco still had his own home he would occasionally stay at. But it didn’t seem right to pay for two houses when they typically only stayed at hers. Cisco was the one to bring up moving in together, and at first he suggested he move into Marisol’s house. But she was also ready for a new start and wanted something that would be theirs.

Six months later, they found their dream house in San Francisco, close to Cisco’s new shop, leaving his Berkeley shop in the capable hands of one of his cousins. They purchased a two-story house with extra bedrooms for family. Tiny already laid claim to one since she spent a lot of time at Cisco’s place. She would be going to college in San Francisco and would need a place to stay. Marisol loved the opinionated and feisty teenager, so she loved the idea of having her in the house. Plus, Tiny had bonded with Fabian and Camilia, so now she’d be able to see them more.

“About time,” he said, squeezing her. Cisco leaned downand planted a kiss to the top of her head. “This is the perfect house for us.”

It was. The house was modern, complete with a pool in the backyard. Her niece and nephew fell in love with it as soon as she told them about the pool. Marisol’s favorite part of the house was the massive walk-in closet. Not only one, but two, so she didn’t even have to share with Cisco. Surprisingly, he had a ton of his own clothes. She had never had a partner who enjoyed fashion as much as she did.

She didn’t know if this home would be their forever home. Marisol was working on living in the moment, and in the moment, this house was perfect for them. Neither of them wanted kids. Snowball was the only child they wanted to raise. And Tiny…but she didn’t really count. Tiny was self-sufficient and spent most of her time in her room. They enjoyed spending their time with friends like Stella and the gang, and didn’t want to give that freedom up.

Marisol was content with remaining in Cisco’s arms the rest of the evening while the movers were hard at work. That was until Tiny burst into the room, holding four pizza boxes. Fabian trailed behind her, holding the box of cheesy bread. Ever since the two of them met, Fabian became obsessed and followed her around whenever he could.

“Pizza is here! Break time,” Tiny called, putting the boxes on the only available counter space. Fabian lifted onto his tiptoes to place the cheesy bread on the counter, proud of himself when he managed to get it up there.

“Thank god. I was about to sneak Marisol and me away to eat.” Cisco grinned. He searched the bags for paper towels.

“Rude as hell you wouldn’t feed us.” Tiny narrowed her eyes, flipping open one of the boxes to expose ameat lovers’ pizza. Marisol’s stomach took that opportunity to growl. She hadn’t eaten since last night, too consumed by the move.

“Did I hear the pizza is here?” Javi walked into the room with a very pregnant Lola waddling behind him. Javi was in a similar state as Cisco, only her brother-in-law wore a tank top. The boys were doing most of the heavy lifting while Marisol and Lola were slowly unpacking. Lola had the excuse of being pregnant to work slowly, and Marisol happily took that excuse to work at her own snail’s pace.

“I need sausage pizza. Baby girl is starving today,” Lola groaned, moving to one of the few high chairs they had set up on the island. Pregnant lady definitely got dibs, but Marisol secured the second-to-last chair. Tiny, not wanting to miss her opportunity, took a seat in the last one.

“Are you sure you should be here any longer after this? Aren’t you supposed to be on bed rest?” Marisol asked. Cisco and Javi served the sisters, placing greasy slices of pizza down in front of them on napkins.

Lola didn’t answer until she took the first bite of her pizza. She groaned. “This is the best pizza I’ve ever put in my mouth,” she said, earning a crude comment from Javi. Lola ignored him and answered Marisol. “No, my doctor said I should rest. Not that I’m on bed rest. Little miss should be here in two weeks, and we still have a lot to do. Including moving you in.”

“You know you don’t have to help. I know you have a thousand things to do at home,” Marisol assured.

Lola shook her head, taking another bite. “Not really. We had a lot of stuff leftover from Fabian, and Javi kept a lot of Camilia’s baby stuff. So we are pretty much good to go. I need to get my nesting satisfied at your new house.”

“Speaking of baby, do you have a nameyet?” Tiny handed Fabian a slice of cheese pizza, who, in return, handed her his crust from the last slice, reminding Marisol of her and Cisco. Two years later and he still had not convinced her to like crust yet.

“We didn’t have a name for the longest time,” Javi admitted.

“But then I came up with the name!” Camilia smiled from her seat next to her father. “I said they should call her Eliza. Isn’t it beautiful? Daddy said it’s a nice name, and Mamá Lola cried.”

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